Israeli FM charged with breach of trust

JERUSALEM - The Associated Press

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. AP Photo

Israel’s attorney general has indicted the country’s powerful foreign minister for alleged breach of trust, but decided not to file a number of more serious charges in a fraud and money-laundering case.
 
While Avigdor Lieberman escaped the most serious accusations against him, Thursday’s decision could still jeopardize his political career and throw the Israeli political system into upheaval on the eve of elections.
 
The investigation into Lieberman’s personal business dealings goes back more than a decade. Prosecutors suspected he illicitly received money from businessmen and laundered it through straw companies.
 
But they apparently decided they had insufficient evidence for a conviction. Instead, a statement says he was charged with receiving official material from the investigation against him from the former Israeli ambassador to Belarus.